General Overseer of Salvation Ministries, Pastor David Ibiyeomie has come under heavy criticism following his controversial remarks about the white garment churches.
Ibiyeomie in a trending video declared his hatred for the church, while he also went ahead to allege that its members were fetish.
The Port Harcourt-based pastor who was seen speaking from the pulpit of his church said, “They can take your surname and put inside a bottle of gin and make incantations and say as this gin is, that’s how the boy will be drinking.”
“Ask them, they do it. All these Cele prophets, that’s how they do it. They will pick the name of somebody and put it inside Kai Kai (gin) and they will read all those demonic Psalms, and the boy will do like this- give me a bottle of Schnapps,” he added.
Reactions had since trailed Ibiyeomie’s submission as members of the white garment churches took to social media to disprove his claims.
This is as some of them specifically cast doubt on his current standing with Christ for him to have committed the error of condemning another Christian denomination.
Clergymen in the Celestial Church of Christ and the Cherubim and Seraphim Church in an audience with ACTS OF SERAPHS also expressed their views on the development.
Pastor Sam Ogunyooye of the Glory of God C&S said Ibiyeomie spoke based on the limitation of his knowledge about the church.
He said, “What Pastor Ibiyeomie has done is to stand and help give verbal expressions to the thoughts of many. And this just plays into the Anathema reactions of some uninformed Pentecostals who have failed the litmus test of humility in Christendom. Christ did not teach us condemnation. Christ taught humility and accommodation.
“The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 to test and prove all things and hold on to the truth. The gentleman Pastor Ibiyeomie just followed the bandwagon and erred in judgment. However, his comment shows the limitation of his knowledge about a church that started decades before his own.”
Ogunyooye however noted that every organisation has deviants, adding that it is a wake-up call for non-conformists to Christ’s standards in the white garment churches to clean up their ways.
The Shepherd of CCC Praiseville, Pastor Kunle Hamilton, on his part, described the comment as unfortunate, adding that Ibiyiome committed an error of conclusion.
He said, “I find it quite unfortunate that a minister of the gospel in a Pentecostal denomination of the body of Christ in Nigeria would denigrate any other denomination in the body of Christ. I am a preacher of the gospel. I teach and I preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I can say boldly that I have never seen a fellow prophet of the Celestial Church of Christ or in the Cherubim and Seraphim Church or the Church of the Lord put anybody’s name in a bottle and recant incantations in it. I have never seen or practised it.
“And this does not mean it is impossible for Ibiyomie or anyone else to have seen any such thing. However, there is an error of conclusion. If anyone had seen any prophet or any individual, wearing a white garment and doing something untoward or unscriptural, then it is wrong for anyone to conclude that that is how prophets in the garment-wearing churches do.
While he further clarified that what Ibiyeomie spewed on the pulpit did not in any way represent what the church practice, Hamilton urged him to tender an apology to members of the denomination.
“I hope that Ibiyomie will eat the humble pie and come out to apologise because no matter how he feels about anything he has heard or seen, no pastor worth his call should ever be caught saying that he hates a particular denomination. we are meant to love everyone, including those who have shown hatred unto us. if he apologises, I will respect him as a man because nobody is above mistakes, but for him not to do that, then he stands in judgement of what he has judged the white garment churches of.”
Pastor Segun Micheal, who expressed reservation about the hate claim by Ibiyeomie, described it as an expensive word.
He however admonished members of the fold to do away with practices that bring reproach to the church.
He said, “My only problem with the statement is the word, ‘I hate’ from the mouth of a servant of God. It is a very expensive word not to be used at all. And I think many of us guide against such. However, what he said is obvious. Some of our people can do all of that. Some of the people you pray for and you do some of these things for them, someday they are going to use it against you.
“So we must guard against these practices that give us results. The fact that they give us results does not mean they are acceptable. We may not be able to contend that but we will only need to go back home and correct some of these anomalies so that we can have a godly church.”
Pastor Micheal declared that the C&S is a great church and an order from the Lord as well as a covenant that nobody can destroy.
“No matter what people do, the covenant will not die,” he added.
Pastor Gabriel Evans in a video released on his social media handle also reprimanded Ibiyeomie.
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